WikiDeal's development is financed without venture capital, without debt, and without shareholder equity. Instead, it uses a self-financing model built on early supporter rewards (bonding curve) and recurring subscription revenue. This page explains how development is funded, what the money covers, and how early supporters are compensated once the platform reaches scale.

Self-Financing Model

WikiDeal rejects the traditional startup financing model (raise VC → grow at all costs → exit). Instead, it uses two complementary mechanisms:

1. Early-phase: Bonding Curve (×100 → ×30 reward range) → generates initial capital from community supporters
2. Operating phase: Subscription revenue (10 CHF/year × users) → self-sustaining operations + development budget

This model means WikiDeal's fate is tied to genuine user adoption, not investor appetite. If users don't pay, development stops. If users do pay, development accelerates proportionally. This creates a healthy alignment between product quality and financial health.

Bonding Curve: 1M CHF → 100M Credits

The initial development phase is funded through the Bonding Curve. The target is to raise 1 million CHF from early supporters:

The 1 billion CHF face value is not a cash liability — it represents the total platform access value that would be generated if all 10M subscription years are eventually used. In practice, credits are redeemed progressively as the platform grows.

Subscription Revenue as Development Fund

Ongoing development is funded through platform subscription revenue (10 CHF/user/year). This creates a direct link between user growth and development capacity:

Amortization Logic

The initial 1M CHF raised through the bonding curve must be "amortized" over time — meaning early supporters must eventually be compensated. This happens through the revenue distribution mechanism, not through direct repayment:

• Early supporters hold années de cotisation (from the 100M credit pool)
• As platform revenues grow, 50% of surplus is distributed proportionally to credit holders
• The more années you hold, the more you receive from each distribution
• Over time, credit holders recoup their investment multiple times over (via the ×100 → ×30 bonding curve)

ℹ️ There is no fixed repayment schedule. Compensation depends on platform growth. Early supporters accept this risk explicitly — the ×100 → ×30 bonding curve is the reward for accepting early-stage uncertainty.

50/50 Distribution When Revenue Flows

Once operating costs are covered from revenue, the surplus is split 50/50:

• 50% → Common Fund: redistributed proportionally to the number of années held by early investors (rewards patience and loyalty)
• 50% → Credit Holders: distributed sequentially — crédit #1 gets half first, then crédit #1 + all investors, then crédit #2, etc.

This mechanism is not discretionary — it is a structural rule built into the WikiDeal operating model, published transparently and auditable by the community.

Development Roadmap Funding

Development priorities are funded from operating surplus (after costs and distributions). The model does not promise specific features at specific dates — instead, it promises that:

• All surplus beyond operating costs is reinvested in development or distributed to the community
• Development priorities are determined through democratic governance (Open Call process)
• No development budget is "reserved" for private interests or locked away from community oversight
• Financial reports are published quarterly, including development spending breakdown